Springfield Pulls The Plug on Calble TV

Springfield City Commissioners have voted to get out of the Cable TV business entirely effective right away.

At one time Springfield Cablevision had about 3,000 subscribers. Now the number of homes connected to the city owned cable business is down to just over 600 subscribers.

The cable TV business is costing the city between six and fourteen thousand dollars in losses a month.

Mayor Ralph Hammond says Springfield old analog system is outdated and would cost a couple of million to bring it up to date with today’s digital standards.

"It's monetarily beneficial for the city but at the same time we can't provide the quality of service. We're gonna go ahead and drop out and WOW! or another network can come in and give Comcast some competition. 600 don't even pay the FOX network, ESPN. I mean all these vendors still gotta get paid and the funds just ain't coming in."

The Springfield cable system was started in the 1980’s by longtime mayor Buddy McLemore and residents nicknamed it “BuddyVision”. Residents who are still on “BuddyVision” will have to select WOW, which used to be Knology, or Comcast or Satellite TV services.

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